Bucket and boom conveying and distributing mechanism



Sept. 24, 1929. s. sHAFER, JR 1,729,553

BUCKET `AND BOOM CONVEYING AND DISTRIBUTING MECHANISM Filed April 27, 1927 z sheets-sheet 1 Sept. 24,` 1929. s. sHAFER, JR 1,729,553

BUCKET AND BOOM CONVEYING AND DISTRIBUTING HECHANISM Patented Sept. 24, 1929 SAMUEL SHAFER, JR., F MILVI'AUKEE,

A ahi' GFFICE WISCONSIN, A.SSIGl-TOR TO CHAIN BELT BUCKET AND BOOM GONVEYNG AND DISTREBUTING MECHANISM .Application filed April 2?,

ift/ly invention relates to cornieying` and distributing apparatus or" the bucket and boom type such as nowv is commonly used upon paving machines, and it has 'tor its obj ect to improve such apparatus in particulars to be hereinafter pointed out. n Patent 1,290,537 dated January 7, i919, to Donald Fraser, there is illustrated conveying and distributing apparatus of the specilic type to Which my invention relates. lVhile my invention is particularly intended for use in connection u th pavino` machines, it is not necessarily limited in its useful applications to machines of that character.

In the accompanying drawings:

l is a side elevation et apparatus einbodying my invention.

2 is a cross sectional view on the line iiin or rig. i.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing; a di '.terent adjustment of parts associated with the bucket trom what is illustrated in Fig. l.

Fig'. lis a side elevation of the pivot tor thc boom, detached.

Fig'. 5 is a trent elevation thereof.

Fig'. 6 is a cross sectional view on the line VI-VI ot i 4..

Fig. 7 is a broken plan view of the boom.

ln the drawings 2 indicates in outline the discharging end of a concrete mixing' druin that is supported in a framework 3 constituting part of a road-paving machine. There is supported by the 'frameuf'ork adjacent to the deliveryv end ot the concrete mixer a bracket l in Which is mounted the vertical pivot 5 ot a horizontally adjustable boom 6, that constitutes a track or Way along Which travels a carriage or trolley 7 i'rom which is suspended a bucket 8 that is adapted to receive the mixed concrete `from the drum 2 through a discharge or delivery chute l0. The bracket is constructed with tivo rather Widely separated bearings 19, 19 for the vertical pivot oit the boom. T here are several advantages incident to thus constructing the bracket, as will be pointed out. t is now recognized that it is desirable to rigidly attach the carriage trolley 7 to the u sper forward or outer end ot' the bucket, as represented at 37 in the drawings, in order that the bucket may run up close under the delivery chute lO. This arrangement makes it necessary that the portion of the carriage 7 that carries the inner trolley Wheels l2 shall overhang the bucket. By dividing the bracket at to form the tivo separated bearings 19, 19 there is provided an ample space for the inwardly extending, overhaninc` portions of the carriage, and the trolley Wheels l2, to enter, when the bucket comes to its inner loading position. Further by forming the bracket as described, the vertical pivot of the boom is supported in Widely separated bearings, Which is of great practica advantage, as is apparent.

The means by which the boom is slewed are connected to the pivot 5, but as they may be of any usual or approved construction they are not herein illustrated or described in detail.

The means for causing the traverse of the bucket along the boom are not illustrated beyond the cable l5 and the pulleys 13 and 47, about which such cable passes, as such means may be 01"' usual or preferred construction.

The cable passes from the pulley 13 at the inner end of the boom into and longitudinally through the pivot Which is hollow.

The bucket 8 is of the bottom-discharge type ano is provided with a pair ot closing doors 9, connected by toothed gearing 14 so as to operate together, and preferably provided at their meeting edges with an gle strips 38. The doors preferably are of the seltclosing type, arranged, when left free, to Vtall into a central position closing the bucket, under the influence olf gravity.V It will be understood that springs n'iight be employed to supplement the action ot gravity for this purpose, should this be found desirable.

The construction ot the doors, as represented and described, and their connection, serves to lock them when in closed position, against the Weight of the material delivered to the bucket and until the doors are positively opened.

For automatically opening the doors to permit the discharge of the bucket, I employ mechanism, manually controlled, of the general type illustrated in the aforesaid Fraser patent.

11 represents a link connecting one of the doors 9 with a sheave or pulley 16 supported in a bracket or other suitable mounting 2:2 located at the forward end of the bucket S. To this sheave is connected, preferably by being wound about its periphery, afree-running, endless cable 17, that extends outwardly from the sheave and passes around a pulley 18, supported in the forward end of the boom, whence it turns and is carried around an idler pulley 13 supported in the boom, and from thence passes about an adjustable pulley 414, continuing from which the cable passes to and about a pulley 18 at the rear or inner end of the boom, whence it returns to the sheave 16. The shaft of the adjustable pulley Llll is preferably mounted in slide bearings 46, supported upon the top flanges of the beams constituting the boom, and adjustable by means of the screws 1-5, permitting the proper tension to be applied to the cable 17.

The link connecting the doors 9 of the bucket with the sheave 16 is located at the forward end of the bucket and outside thereof. It is preferably extensible, being formed of a lower section 33 connected with one of the doors and an upper section 311- connected with the sheave 16. The upper section is preferably formed of two parts which together constitute a yoke that straddles the wheel or sheave 16, as shown in Fig. 2, being Vpivotally connected with the latter at The two sections, 33 and 311, of the link are united by bolts, and one, or both, of such sections, are provided with a plurality of perforations 36 for bolts employed to connect the sections, permitting adjustment of the link, as to its length, as represented in 1 and 3.

21 indicates a brake arranged to bear upon the pulley 18 to arrest its turning and so stop the free running of the cable 17. The brake is supported upon a shaft, that is mounted in bearings 20, formed at the sides of an opening through the wall of boom pivot 5 and located between the collars Si) thereof, into which opening extend the pulleys 13 and 1S at the inner end of the boom. The brake is arranged to be manually controlled, it being represented as connected by a cable 23 with an operating handle 24, the cable passing through the center of the pivot 5 and being` suitably guided by pulleys,

The boom 6 is attached to the pivot casting 5, by means of a horizontal, headed, pivot pin al, supported in bearings provided therefor and carried by the separated channel beams constituting the longitudinal members of the boom. The pivot pin has also bearing in a slotted bushing 410 supported in wings 48 of the pivot casting 5 located at the sides of the opening in which are located the several pulleys for the cables and the brake 21. The bushing Ll() is keyed in the side or wings t8 of the pivot pin as indicated at 19. The

rested and further opening stopped.

end of the pivot pin 41 opposite its head is screw-threaded to receive a lint 12. The arrangement described for connecting the boom with the pivot 5 has been found very advantageous, as it permits the easy disconnection and separation of the boom from the other parts of the apparatus when this becomes necessary.; to accomplish which it is only required that the pivot pin '-11 be removed, when the boom may be bodily removed, and this without disturbing the sheaves 13, 1S', which remain upon the bushing 40. @f Course, it will be understood, that before the boom is removed the cables 15 and 17 must be disconnected.

The advantage of attaching the trolley 7 to the upper forward portion of the bucket as at 37, has been referred to. There is also advantage in extending the bucket so that its upper port-ions are located relatively close to the under side of the boom 6 as this permits the wheel or sheave 16 to be supported at the forward. end of the bucket in bearings carried by the said upper portions thereof, and to be located with its upper edge in the plane of the lower run of the cable 17.

The uses and operation of the apparatus.

that has been described will now be sei forth. lt-has been stated that the doors 9 are selfclosing, and the arrangement shown and herein described insures that they will not open under the weight of the load that may be delivered to the bucket from the mixing drum. This arrangement has been found advantageous over the practice, which has heretofore been in vogue, of causing the doors of bottom discharge buckets for conveying and distributing concrete to be locked in their closed position, but to be self-opening for discharge immediately such lock is broken, for sometimes it is found in practice that the lock holding the doors closed will become accidently tripped and the load carried by the bucket will be thereupon dropped, sometimes at a very inopportuno moment or in an undesirable place. By supporting the doors so they close by gravity it is possible to positively control the extent to which they may be opened. Thus the operator may open them to a limited extent and permit a tial discharge of the load carried by the bucket, and then permit the doors to close again before the whole batch within the bucket has been discharged, whereupon the remaining portion of the batch may be carried by the bucket to 4another position and deposited.

The adjustable feat-ure of the link 11 through which the doors are operated makes it possible to control the extent to which they will be opened at the moment the link is ar- Thus if the link 11 be lengthened, the distance that t-he link will be moved before it is arrested by engagement with the hub of the wheel or parsheave 16 will be less than if the link be shortened, and consequently the extent to which the doors are opened will be diminished. rllhis is advantageous because it is sometimes desirable to open the doors to their fullest extent and permit a very rapid discharge of the contents of the bucket, while under other circumstances it is desirable that the doors should be opened to a less extent, so that the load of the bucket will be discharged more slowly. It is understood that the adjustment of the link 11 will take place while the doors are closed and the cable 17 is free to move so that the wheel 16 may be shifted to suit the length of the link 11.

The bucket, being in the position represented in Fig. 1, receives its charge of material from the drum, it being delivered thereto through the discharge chute 10. Then the bucket has been filled and is to be moved outward along the boom to the point of delivery, the operator, by means not illustrated but well known in the art, causes the cable to be moved, which in turn drags the bucket and its carriage along the boom. As these move outwardly, the free running cable 17, which is connected with the bucket through the wheel or pulley 16, moves freely over its supporting pulleys 18, 18. As the place for the delivery of the material within the bucket is approached the operator cuts off the power that is causing the outward movement of the bucket, and applies the brake 21 to the pulley 18', and this retards the free movement of the cable 17, with the result that as the bucket completes its outward movement under inertia there is a pull upon the pulley 16 tending to move it in the direction of the arrow a in Fig. 1. rlhe parts of the apparatus are adjusted so that this pull is of sufficient force to open the doors 9. The sheave or wheel 16 is a convenient means for applying power to rotate the shaft 39 on which it is supported and it also serves as a crank arm for the aty tachment of the upper end of the link 11,

which, as the shaft is turned, moves from the position represented in full lines in Fig. 1- the position occupied when the doors are closed-to the position indicated by dotted lines in said figure-the position occupied when the doors are open-allowing the load to be discharged.

J ust as the parts come to the positions indicated in dotted lines the upper section 34 of the link comes into engagement with the projecting ends of the hub of the wheel 16, arresting its further movement, but not until the pivotal connection, 35, between the link 11 and the wheel or pulley 16 has passed beyond the projected line uniting the axis of shaft 39 of the wheel and the pivotal connection of the link with the door, thus locking the doors in open position. By reason of the doors being geared together at 14 the two are '.correspondingly opened and closed. The

doors 9 being opened as described and the load delivered, the operator now causes the return traverse of the bucket, to the position shown in Fig. 1, to be recharged. I prefer that the lock which has been described for maintaining the bucket in open position shall be sufliciently rigid to cause a synchronous movement of the cable 17 with the return of the bucket, although the lock might be so slight that the friction and inertia of the cable would cause the pivotal point 35 of the link to be moved over its dead center when the return movement of the cable is started, whereupon the doors would close automatically by vgravity and in so doing move the pulley 16 to the position represented in Fig. 1, as soon as the return movement of the bucket commences. Vhen, however, the parts are regulated so that the return movement of the bucket does not of itself cause the closing of the doors, then this is effected by the operator applying the brake and retarding the free movement of the cable 17 whenever he desires the doors to be closed, which would usually be just before the bucket reaches its inner loading position ready to be charged.

rl`he angular strips 38 at the edges of the doors may be utilized as spreading means for the charge of material which has been delivered from the bucket. When they are to be so used the operator causes the doors to be closed and then moves the bucket over the mound of material ust delivered one or more times as may be required to effect the desired spreading.

VJ hat I claim is:

1. The combination with a boom, a bucket arranged to traverse the boom, and a door for closing the bucket to retain material therein, of a free running cable that moves as the bucket moves along the boom, a wheel carried at the forward end of the bucket, to which the cable is secured, means for arresting movement of the cable and causing a turning of the wheel, and a link located outside the bucket at the end thereof, directly uniting the wheel with the door, whereby the door is moved by the turning of the wheel.

2. The combination with a boom and a bucket arranged to traverse the boom, of a door that controls the discharge of the bucket mounted so as to have a normal tendency to move to closing position, al free-running cable that moves as the bucket moves, a wheel supported at the forward end of the bucket to which the cable is secured, a link adjustable as to its length between the wheel and the door and located outside the bucket, and means under manual control to retard the movement of the cable, to thereby cause turning of the wheel to open the door.

3. rllhe combination with a boom and a bucket arranged to traverse the boom, of a door that controls the discharge of the bucket mounted so as to have a normal tendency to move to closing position, a tree-running cable that moves as the bucket moves, a wheel supported at the forward end of the bucket to which the cable is secured, a link between the wheel and the door, a stop for arresting the movement of the link when it has been moved sutiiciently to cause the door to be maintained locked in open position, and means under manual control to retard the free movement of the cable whereby the wheel is turned and the door moves.

l. The combination with a boom and a bucket arranged to traverse the boom, ot a door that controls trie discharge of the bucket mounted so as to have a normal tendency to move to closing position, a free-running cable that moves as the bucket moves, a wheel supported at the forward end oit the bucket to which the cable is secured, a link adjustable as to its length between the wheel and the door, a stop for arresting the movement of the link when it has been moved sutliciently to cause the door to be maintained locked in open position, and means under manual control to retard the tree movement ot the cable whereby the wheel is turned and the door moves. l

5. The combination with a boom, a hollow pivot on which the boom is supported and which turns with it as the boom is slewed, and a bottom discharge bucket arranged to traverse the boom having a door for closing it to retain the material therein, ot a free-running cable that moves as the bucket moves along the boom, pulleys around which the said cable passes located respectively near the opposite ends oit the boom, that at the inner end of the boom being supported by the said pivot, connecting means between the cable and the door iior controlling the movements of the latter as the cable has a movement relative to the bucket, and means for arresting the free movement of the cable at will including a brake supported by the boom pivot and arranged to bear upon the pulley around which the cable passes that is located near the inner end of the boom.

6. rlhe combination stated in claim 5 in which the pulley at the inner end of the boom and the brake that bears thereon both extend partially into the hollow pivot, and the means lor directly operating the brake eX- tending through said pivot..

7. The combination with. a boom and a bottom discharge bucket arranged to traverse the boom havin a door for closing the bucket to retain material therein, ot a tree-running cable moved as the bucket moves along the boom, a. wheel located at the forward end oil' the bucket to which the cable is secured, a link connecting the wheel and the door th link being located outside the bucket and formed oli two parts adjustably connected to permit the eilcctive length of 'the link to be varied, the part of the link connected to the wheel being in the form of a yoke that straddles the wheel and is adapted to engage with the hub thereof when the wheel is turned to a position to open the door, and means for retarding the treeaunning of the cable.

rt3. The combination with a boom and a bucket of the bottom discharge 'type arranged to traverse the boom, et a pair ot doors tor closing the discharge opening oli t-he bucket having a normal tendency to move to closing position, gearing uniting the doors to cause them to move synchronously in opening and closing, a free-running cable movable as the bucket moves along the boom, connections between one ot the doors and the cable comprising a wheel supported at one end of the bucket to which the cable is connected, and a link one end of which is pivotally united with the wheel and the other end with a door, arranged to open the doors when the cable moved in one direction relative to the bucket, and means for arresting the free ruiming of the cable.

9. The combination'with a boom, a bucket arranged to traverse the boom, a cable tor controlling operations of the bucket, and pulleys about which the said cable passes located respectively near the opposite ends ot the boom, ot a hollow pivot tor supporting the boom and permitting it to be slowed, the pivot being formed with wings at either side of an opening into the central passage through the pivot, abushing or hollow shaft supported in the wings of the pivot on which shaft are mounted the cable pulleys that are located near the inner end of the boom, and a pin uniting the boom to the slewing pivot which pin passes through the said bushing or hollow shaft, the pin serving as a horizontal pivot for the boom, and being removable so that the boom can be separated from its slewing pivot without disturbing the pulleys mounted upon the bushing or h'ollow shaft.,

10. The combination with a boom, pulleys carried thereby, a tree-running cable passing over the pulleys, the lowerI run of the cable being close to the lower edge ol' the boom, a. trolley supported bythe boom so as to traverse back and forth along the same, a bucket of the bottonrdischarge type provided with a door controlling the discharge of the contents of the bucket, carried by the trolley, the upper portion of which bucket is relatively close to the lower edge oit the boom, a wheel or sheave to which the free-running cable is secured, supported in bearings carried by the bucket and with its upper edge in the plane of the lower run of the cable, connections between the sheave and the door and mea-ns for arresting the tree movement of the cable to cause. the opening of the door.

SAMUEL SHAFER, JR. 

